Splatoon: A language barrier
by TinyFox2
Summary: Oreo the octoling struggles to join inkling society, until she meets a kimono wearing squid..
1. Chapter 1

Note: In this fanfic, the inklings and octolings speak different languages. ? ﾟﾐﾙ?

Also spoiler for single player in Splatoon 2

Disclaimer: I literally own nothing

The young octoling hid surveying her surroundings. She wanted to join this world of squids, but speaking Inklish was so hard. Only the most important Octarians got taught the language, and she wasn't anything special, just a foot soldier. But then, she saw something, or rather, someone.

'That inkling sang that song!' she said to herself. 'She looks quite lonely, I'll go and oh wait I can't talk to her.'

But she walked over anyway, tentacles hidden under a BMX helmet she'd stolen from an armour case at Octo Valley.

The singer slipped through a grate. Should she follow her?

The octoling did, and fell into what looked like a stage, but it had kettles. Then she realised.

'This is how they get to the zapfish!'

The inkling turned around and talked in Inklish. She recognised a few words without understanding them. She shrugged, and accidentally knocked the helmet off.

Upon seeing the tentacles which were so different from an inkling's, she stopped talking.

Then shouted loudly, with a name, which was Callie, being used every sentence. The now ferocious singer was not at all understandable and very loud, keeping going, until the octoling girl burst into tears.

The singer stopped and said, in rusty octoling language,

'I'm sorry. I'm Marie, what are you called?'

'I-I'm Oreo,' she said sniffing and wiping her face with her sleeve.

"What are you doing here? Can you talk in Inklish?" Marie asked. Oreo shook her head.

"I left the Octarians after hearing your song. I want to be part of the Inkling community, but I can't talk Inklish and I'm scared that I would be bullied."

Oreo whispered.

Marie thought. This Octoling had nothing to do with Callie disappearing. Should she leave this Octoling, unable to communicate, or should she try and help her. It would be useful to have a source of inside knowledge on Octo Valley. If nothing else, this Octoling would owe her a favour.

"Would you like me to teach you some Inklish? You should probably go to a language teacher for better knowledge, but I can teach you the basics."

Oreo agreed gladly, hoping to be able to talk to the inklings in their language. So Marie taught her a bit, and then asked her a favour.

"Can you do something for me?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Do you know where an an Inkling called Callie is?"

"Oh, yeah! DJ Octavio said something about hypno-shades and a singer called Callie." Oreo obliviously said.

Marie cried then, crying until there were no tears left to cry.

"I'm sorry! How are you feeling?" she asked in passable Inklish.

"Help me save Callie." Marie whispered.

"Ok. I trust you." Oreo replied.

So, Oreo wielding a Brella and Marie wielding a Charger, they jumped into the boss kettle together, skipping the other tens of zapfish. There would be time for that once Callie had been saved. Then they could easily defeat the Octarians together, and save every single one.

They ran to Callie, and Marie was truly prepared for what was about to happen.

"Callie!" she yelled, and shot the glasses off. "Oreo! Try and take down Octavio!"

"Got it! You deal with Callie's hypnotism, Mar-"

Octavio had a spare pair of hypno-shades.

"Perhaps Callie and Marie are too hard, but you, soldier, are not!" He yelled.

"Why do you care about ME? You could just go find one of the inklings or something!"

"Because aside from me, you are the most intelligent octoling!" He whispered, ready to shove the hypno-shades on her. But she smashed them, ready to defend Marie.

"I'll just play some hypnotic music then!"

But Oreo fired her Brella, and shoved her fingers into her ears, until it ran out. Then, she would be in trouble. And then, there she was, waiting for Octavio to do something, as she was useless. She expected him to attack, to push her. Instead, he pulled her fingers away from her ears.

She was paralyzed until Octavio commanded, with a psmirk to attack Marie and Callie. But first, he made her put the last pair of hypno-shades on, just in case.

"NOO!" Marie yelled. Callie was back to normal now, so Marie shouted "Callie, get our music playing, I'll deal with those hypno-shades, because I am not losing this girl to Octavio!"

The Calamari Inktation started to play, and Marie, instead of using her low-tide ink, just grabbed them and broke them with a swift karate chop. Then, all she could do was sing, hoping she could shake Oreo out of it.

It worked, and in the end, Oreo was finally able to live among the inklings, with help from Marina and the Squid Sisters.

But there was always something, never far from the surface of her mind: what Octavio had said. He'd escaped while Callie and Marie were distracted. She'd figured out, that if what the DJ had said was true, then she had been a foot soldier because he feared her dethroning him.

"Enough!" she said to herself. She had to find out.

Jumping in the kettle to Octo Valley was easy.

Tracking down Octavio was even easier. But why was it SO easy?


	2. Chapter 2

Oreo crept up behind the DJ. "Suprise!" she whispered into his ear. "I decided to come with you!"

"Really? That's great!" Octavio said. However, he was being fooled, as Oreo was now Agent 4 of the New Squidbeak Splatoon. Her mission was to take down Octo Valley from the inside. She checked that she had the Calamari Inkantation on CD in her bag. It was still there, under the invisibility pouch that she had invented. It was there. Good. She started to hum it, before stopping herself. She did not need to be ratted out. Not yet.

"Anyway, what's going to happen when I get to Octo Valley?" Oreo cautiously asked.

"You'll get your own lab, your movements will be monitored and you can be our top engineer!" Octavio said, using the age old trick of speaking in sandwiches.

"Wait.. WHAT?" she yelled.

"We can't leave someone who betrayed us before to do what they like. Especially since, well, the New Squidbeak Splatoon."

Oreo faked ignorance, making Octavio explain what he knew, while she tapped a pen against her leg.

"So anyway, I was just trying to find the kettle the inklings use.. GYAH HA HA! But back to Octo Valley. You just need to follow the trail of ink," the somewhat goofy DJ finished.

"Ok.." Oreo replied. She tried to turn into an octopus, but realised that her ink colour at present was green. That was why the DJ had looked at her suspiciously. Oops. She shot her own trail of ink, feeling somewhat uneasy about having the same ink colour as that twisted octopus. She then started to swim, thinking about the code she would need to bypass to make the broadcast system play the Calamari Inkantation. And what programming language would it be? What was the hardware like? As she drew near to Octo Valley, she changed into her humanoid form, and put her ear defenders on. The NSS (New Squidbeak Splatoon) was prepared for Octavio's music.

But then she realised that it was actually nicer with ear defenders on. As a bonus, they doubled as headphones, so she plugged in her music player and listened to the Calamari Inkantation.

At Octo Valley

Oreo gasped at the lab that she'd been shown to. It was more beautiful to her than the Mona Lisa. An army of Bunsen burners, a regiment of test tubes, a platoon of test tube holders - it was heaven. She looked at her sparkling 3D printers, the biggest 3m³ and the smallest 0.5m³. She set to work immediately, filled with ideas. She grabbed a notebook out of a drawer filled with them, scribbling down ideas. Exploring weapons, backfiring chargers, rollers that sucked up ink, Squee-Gs that didn't like inkling ink, you name it. And of course, a hacking device that she could plug into one of the InkBook pros. Oreo knew that after seeing all this she wouldn't be sane, so she called Marie quietly.

"Agent 4! I'm so glad that you got there okay! Any ideas?" Marie whispered. In response, she held the notebook up to the camera on her phone, watching Marie stare. After a moment of brief discussion about the lab, Marie made the decision to make the weapons first, then to hack the system. However, Oreo first decided to make a couple pillows and blankets for the bed that was in her living quarters. She located the sewing machines and made some devices so that they could run automatically, and put in the fabric that she had found. She held her ear defenders on tightly, as she didn't like all the sounds of the machinery working away.

When they were done, Oreo checked the secret pockets she had stitched in. Pretty much invisible unless you knew about them. She hid her CD and phone in her blanket's pocket. After that, she put her PJs on and passed out in her bed as soon as she got in.

\- In the morning

She woke up, expecting to hear Marie nagging at her or the sounds of Callie making breakfast. Instead, silence. It was more deafening than an explosion. So she made some noise, playing some music by Off The Hook on her alarm and humming along. She brushed her teeth with her hovering toothbrush which she had made in Inkopolis.

Breakfast was easy. She put some bread in the toaster, putting on some modifications to butter the bread. But wait- where were her ear defenders?

She ran around, her toothbrush clattering to the floor and breaking and her toast burning while she searched desperately for her ear defenders.

"WHERE DID I LEAVE THEM?!"

she yelled to no-one. Then she realised that she had left them in the secret pocket in her blanket. She ran and shoved them on. But walking back, she remembered that her toast had burnt and her toothbrush was broken. "Oh." She made a mental note to 1) be more careful and 2) stop talking to herself.

"This is going brilliantly." Oreo said to herself.

Hi! Sorry this chapter is shorter than the last one, I wanted to get this out wayy before my personal deadline (once a fortnight) so that I'd have plenty of time to work on the next one and do my homework. Thanks for reading my first fanfic, and I'd really appreciate any feedback!


	3. Chapter 3

Hi! Me again. Thanks for bearing with me! I'd love some constructive criticism, and thanks for reading.

Octavio watched Oreo work on the weapons. Krak-on rollers, chargers, the lot. He smiled and checked computer activity. All appropriate for a high-ranking octoling. Brilliant. At least, it was, until she spoke to the hidden microphone.

"Hello DJ!" she said, and got back to work.

"It's hidden! How did she find it?!" he said, before realising that, oh wait, she's smart and returning to his work attacking Inkopolis.

Oreo smiled, and got back to work, occasionally singing along to various Off The Hook songs and laughing at Pearl's profanity. It was lonely working by herself, but she had set up a video link with the NSS in her bedroom. Whenever she needed company, she could just walk to the hidden monitor and activate the link. She often talked to Callie and sometimes Agent Eight. It was nice talking to Eight, especially since they had worked together, even if 8 had had amnesia.

"Hey 4," Agent Eight said.

"You know that you can call me Oreo!"

"Yet you still call me Eight," she replied. "Anyway, FOUR, have you thought about tampering with the Octoweapons?"

"Oh, no. It would be a good idea though, wouldn't it?" Oreo replied.

"ARE YOU KIDDING? THAT WOULD BE THE BEST FREAKING THING TO DO, EVER!" she shouted.

For the next hour, they discussed the technicalities of messing with the Octoweapons. It was great, talking to someone who understood her love for science and technology.

-a year later-

Oreo was done. She had messed up the Octoweapons, made sure every octoling carried a weapon which could never work on an inkling and gained the trust of her superiors. Oh, and the most important part. She had finally hacked into the public broadcasting system, something that had taken her a month.

"Yes! I did it!" she said to herself, somewhat sadly. Yes, she would be helping the octolings be free, but... She would have to abandon her lab. Not only would it mean a change of routine, but this lab was so advanced.

"Forget it," she said to herself, and made a list of things to do.

1) Play the Calamari Inkantation.

2) Save the smallest 3D printer

3)STOP TALKING TO HERSELF

4) Oh, and maybe go pick some blackberries.

This was the moment. The do-or-die. She plugged her hacking device into the music player and cautiously removed her ear defenders. She immediately put them back on, as she had forgotten how much she hated the whirring of machinery. But she calmly walked to the switch and turned the power off. She took them off again.

Silence.

Then, she heard that familiar intro slither into her soul.

She'd done it.

She ran around the lab as fast as she could, grabbing a suitcase, and opened it. She shoved several supplies into it, and quickly shot a trail of ink.

"Goodbye, lab. I'll miss you!" she yelled at the building, before swimming away and never looking back.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_back at Inkopolis-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

Oreo was a hero to the New Squidbeak Splatoon. All 7 of the other members.

"Agent 4, you're a HERO!" Callie shouted.

"But am I? Am I really if I wish for a lab provided by the octarians?" she whispered to herself in her native tongue.

"Everyone has weaknesses, Oreo." Agent Eight whispered back in the same languages. "And everyone has strengths."

"Yes, but I'm so dumb for having such stupid weaknesses, like social...ness. And understanding body language and wanting that lab and and..." she sobbed, tears trickling down her face.

"It's not your fault Oreo. Besides, the same thing that gave you those weaknesses gave you your strengths."

"What is it?" Oreo asked.

"Autism."

And suddenly everything seemed to come together, like assorted Lego pieces suddenly creating a rocket, or a car. It was a name, a label. But she could use that to find solutions to her problems and ways to use her intelligence.

"How did you know?" she asked quietly.

"I have a lot of friends with autism."

That night, the two octolings walked away from the concert. celebrating the freed octolings. Instead, they cycled to a park. Each octoling produced something from their bag. Eight pulled out a blanket, while Oreo, (a.k.a Agent Four) pulled out some bread rolls. In the dark, they sat on the soft blanket, and started to pick some fruit, making sandwiches filled with berries. They talked and ate until they fell asleep.

This would be a perfect fairytale ending, but alas, it was not to be, as they both woke up to a distress call on their phones. The night ruined, they grabbed the blanket and swam to the Octo Valley kettle at top speed.

"Just a drill, agents." Captain Cuttlefish said to them, laughing quietly.

"YOU RUINED EVERYTHING! WE WERE GOING TO-"

"I think what she means is that we were having a sleepover and that she was going to prepare waffles when we got home."

"You're obviously good friends," said Marie from behind them.

"Yup," replied Eight.

Oreo gasped at the sudden shock, but Eight dragged her home.

The pair stayed best friends for the rest of their lives.

Hi! I intend for this to be the end, unless you guys want more! :-) I'm honestly not sure how to write an autistic character, so I kinda just gave Oreo some of my traits (I'm on the spectrum, hi!) but if anyone has any legit knowledge on how to write an autistic character, I'd be soooo grateful if you shared it with me. Have a nice day!


	4. Chapter 4 - Sorry!

Hello.

I am dreadfully sorry about this.

I wish I'd updated sooner, but my teachers are piling on the homework and choosing your GCSEs is a very serious business. On top of that, my inspiration has decided to go play hide and seek.

So, for the next (insert time period here) my stories will be on hold.

Also, I want to rewrite my two Splatoon stories because they.. aren't the greatest.

Again, I am sorry. I'll be posting consolation.. something. I don't know.

Again, I'm so dreadfully sorry.

Thank you all for reading my stories

But here's a joke for you all:

 _Knock knock._

 _Who's there?_

 _Interrupting cow._

 _Interrupting c-_

 _MOOOOOO!_


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